With the looming end of the “Moore’s Law” era, there is an emerging challenge to “create a new type of computer that can proactively interpret and learn from data, solve unfamiliar problems using what it has learned, and operate with the energy efficiency of the human brain.”

Neuromorphic computing will play a major role in this challenge and has the potential to transform the way we use computers through new materials, new brain-inspired chips, greater understanding of neuroscience, and breakthroughs in machine understanding/intelligence. Neuromorphic computing systems have the potential to mimic the functionality of neural systems in the brain, which we believe will lead to more powerful and efficient computing paradigms. The goal of this conference is to bring together leading researchers in neuromorphic computing to present new research, develop new collaborations, and provide a forum to publish work in this area.

RESEARCH PAPERS ARE REQUESTED FOR TOPICS ON NEUROMORPHIC COMPUTING, SPECIFICALLY IN FOUR FOCUS AREAS:

• Systems, architectures, and circuits
  • Network, neuron, and synapse models
  • Non-von Neumann computing architectures and models
  • Emerging devices and hardware implementations
  • Event or spike-based systems
  • Neuromorphic circuits
• Machine intelligence algorithms for programming or training neuromorphic devices
  • Supervised and unsupervised learning methods
  • Biologically-inspired algorithms
  • Adaptations to existing algorithms for use on or with neuromorphic systems
• Applications for and use-cases of neuromorphic systems
  • Applications where neuromorphic systems have the potential to outperform state-of-the-art techniques
  • Suggestions for benchmark tasks for neuromorphic computing
  • Neuromorphic datasets
• Supporting software and systems for neuromorphic systems
  • Efficient simulation techniques for hardware and large-scale networks
  • Compilers and programming frameworks
  • Visualization tools

Note: Submissions outside the scope of these areas, including from materials science and neuroscience, will also be considered (especially for lightning talks and posters), although they are not the focus of this conference.

WE ARE ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS IN THE FOLLOWING FORMATS:

• Full papers (6-8 pages), which will be considered for full (20 minute) presentations. Full papers should present original research and will be included in the conference proceedings.
• Short papers (3-4 pages), which will be considered for full presentations and/or lightning talks. Short papers can be position papers or present preliminary results and will be included in the conference proceedings.
• Extended abstracts (1 page) for lightning talks and/or poster presentations. Extended abstracts will not be included in the conference proceedings.
• Tutorial submissions (2-3 pages) for 1-2 hour tutorial sessions. Tutorials should include a hands-on component for tutorial attendees to work on or interact with neuromorphic software or hardware. Tutorials should be led by no more than three facilitators. Unlike paper and abstract submissions, tutorial submissions should be submitted via email to Katie Schuman at schumancd [at] ornl.gov.
• Special session submissions (2-3 pages) for 1-2 hour special sessions. Special sessions should include invited presentations on a specific topic. Special session submissions will not be included in the conference proceedings. Unlike paper and abstract submissions, special session submissions should be submitted via email to Katie Schuman at schumancd [at] ornl.gov.